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by Fidget
Summary: The last chapter's up! It's good! I swear to the User, it is! The last summary was supposed to have, Mmm, it's good, at the end.
1. The Beginning

A/N: Now, I know it's rude to start another story when I haven't finished my old one, but that one's sad. And User knows I'm in a hap-hap-HAPPY mood right now! So, I'll just have a small breach of netiquitte and write a small action/adventure series. So all you angry at me can flame or send nasty e-mails, but it won't matter. I'm rubber and you're glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you. (corny, eh? Hey, you want something else corny? The title of Ch. 1! Okay, I was drawing a blank, people, gimme a break!) 

* * *

Chapter 1: The Beginning

* * *

Fidget sat, glued to the monitor in front off her. Rikki stood by, tapping his fingers idley and feeling awkward at being totally ignored. He decided to fix that.

"So, why's there flowers on your chair, anyways?" he said, quickly picking a topic for conversation. Fidget whipped her head around and glared at him. He cringed.

"_Excuse_ me," she said, loudly but not yelling, "I am _trying_ to read a really good story at fanfiction here! Mind cutting the yappin'?!"

Rikki waved his hands in mock panic. "Oh, well _excuuuuuse_ me!" he turned away, preparing to stalk away angrily, but his attention was caught by a slow-moving Vinnie waddling towards his owner. She looked down immediately, and picked him up, cooing. Rikki rolled his eyes.

_Sure, the lizard is welcome, but the human friend? Nooooo!_

Grinder walked in, he brushed past Rikki, and headed for Fidget. Rikki grabbed his arm.

"Uh, I wouldn't bother her if I were you. She's into a story."

Grinder shrugged. "So? I got an opportunity for her."

"Opportunity?"

"Yeah, she could actually win an award with this tape."

Fidget perked up at the word 'award'. "What?"

Grinder turned to her again. "Yeah, we're doin' some stuff out in that dead space below us. Thought you might like to tape it."

Her eyes lit up, and she stood, dumping Vinnie on to the keyboard (he hiss-grunted, waddled around a bit, and settled down again on the '0' key). "I'm there!" she cried, and ran off to the back to don her Team Xtreme suit.

* * *

Alex carefully aimed for the sand dune ahead, which he knew was a jump over a 20 ft deep pit. A 20 ft deep pit with Fidget sitting at the bottom and complaining loudly in the earpiece about how bored she was and would he please hurry up and hurtle the darn thing? Alex shook his head minutely, thinking how crazy she was sometimes. Nobody had _forced_ her to come out here and tape it, it was just a practice. He pulled up suddenly, and flew over the pit with surprising grace. Fidget, seeming to have forgotten the earpiece was still on, screamed loud enough for him to hear her in the air, and just about splitting his eardrum with the piece. At first, he thought she was doing the usual: screeching her approval of his performance, but then he saw the trucks barreling across the dirt towards them.

He pulled to a stop just as Grinder walked over for a closer look, and Fidget yelled into the earpiece again.

"Excuse me, but could someone PLEASE GET ME OUT OF HERE?!" Grinder jogged over and pulled her out, but Alex watched the trucks. He wondered what they were doing.

"What the heck are they doing?" Fidget asked, as if reading his mind. Alex flinched, and clicked his little piece off. If she couldn't learn to keep her voice down sometimes...

The trucks were right up to them by now, and they pulled around to surround them. Fidget frowned. It was a threatening thing to do, pulling all around and trapping them. She clutched her camera tightly.

* * *

Rikki, still in Big Air, watched wearily. He was worried, but at the same time, jealous. He never did get to do anything, just sit around and watch things on a computer monitor. He slumped, but kept an eye on the ground below, where men were stepping out of the trucks. He saw one of them walk up to Alex and begin to talk, but he couldn't hear, because Alex's earpiece was turned off. He wondered why that had happened. Alex nodded, and Fidget immediately ran over and waved her arms around a lot. Not only that, but _her_ earpiece was still on, and Rikki was blasted by her shrill voice.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'RESTRICTED'?! IS THIS AREA 51?! ARE YOU GONNA HAVE TO KILL ME BECAUSE I ASKED?!"

Her voice startled Vinnie, he did a reptilian piruette off the keyboard and on to the floor, where he scampered up Rikki's leg. This kept Rikki sufficiently busy, and he missed the rest of the team getting into the back of the trucks and driving off. 

* * *

Fidget put her camera in her pack, and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring over Alex's left shoulder. The truck bumped harshly along the ground, and she found it hard to keep up a satisfactory grumpy-position when she kept bouncing comically up and down. Suddenly, she realized the Army base they had been heading for was behind them. The others were all half asleep, and she shook them awake quickly. Not that shaking was neccessary...

"You guys!" she hissed. "We're going soemwhere else!"

Alex shook himself awake. "Wha..somewhere else?" he looked around quickly. "What the...?"

Bars shot up out of the sides of the truck bed, preventing them from escaping. Fidget shouted something that nobody ever managed to decode (it sounded a bit like "ArgshcrAHH!"), and the back window flew open behind her. Arms grabbed her around the waist and pulled her through. She screamed, and found herself in the lap of a very ugly man. He grinned evilly at her with broken teeth, and she said 'urgh' and attempted to hop out the door. But he held her too tightly, and before she knew it the next truck had pulled close, opened it's door, and she was being passed from hand to hand. She looked down at the ground, sand and dust rushing past beneath her, and a small, choked gasp got past her throat. Her arms flailed about franticly, and Alex rushed and stuck his arm full length through the bars.

"Fidget!"

She reached for him, but with one last grasp and pull, she was in the next cab. The person who had ahold of her shoved her backward through the back window. She toppled over, banging her head painfully on one of the bars. But, she was immediately up again and slamming her fists against the back window.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?! WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?! WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU TAKING ME?! OPEN THIS DARN WINDOW THIS VERY MINUTE OR I _SWEAR_ I WILL...!

The truck hit a nasty bump, sending her flying backwards again and this time knocking her out on the hump the tire made.

* * *

Rikki paced back and forth in Big Air. He waved his arms about a lot, and wished very much to break something. He turned, in search of something to break, but saw only Vinnie, who had finally hobbled off the keyboard and now looked up at Rikki. Rikki stared back at him.

"How did I miss it?" he demanded, looking as if he half expected the lizard to come up with a reasonable answer. "I mean, people don't just stand there one minute and then," he flipped one hand off to one side, "POOF! disappear! It's your fault, you know." he added, pointing an accusing finger. "It was your infatuation with leaping on to me that got us here! Don't give me that!" he roared in a very un-Rikki-like way when the reptile stuck out his tongue. "You can't deny it, so just don't try. Now _I've_ got to try and get us out of this mess..."

He went back to pacing, but stopped after a few minutes.

"I guess I'll call the cops." he said, but then he shook his head. "No. That'd be just like me, let someone else handle it. But not today." he looked determinedly at Vinnie, who looked back at him with a much-less-determined-and-slightly-hungry look. "Today, _I'll_ save my friends."

Vinnie wasn't all that impressed by Rikki's nobility. Mostly, he wanted to know why nobody was handing him lettuce. That was pretty much all his life consisted of. Eating lettuce, sleeping, and making grunt-hiss noises. Sure, there was the occasional leap on to the tall Fidget-like form with blue bad-tasting-fuzz-on-top instead of red, but even that got boring after a while. Vinnie realized then for the first time that he wasn't completely satisfied with his life. He snorted saddly, and decided to go off somewhere and eat something to make himself feel better. Let's see, what was there to eat? Hey, there was some lettuce in the back of his cage that had been there for more than 5 days! Hmm, he'd never eaten _anything_ that old before. Well, there was that one lollipop, but nobody cared about _that_... 

Rikki climbed into Little Air. He heard a frantic hiss-grunt, and Vinnie lept into the cockpit with him, something green-and-brownish-edged and crinkley sticking half out of his mouth. The lizard waddled towards him, and hopped on to his shoulder. Rikki considered this, shrugged, and started up the engine.

* * *

Grinder watched sadly as Alex sat back down. He turned and watched Fidget fall through the back window, bang on the back window, and finally knock herself out cold in the back. Alex put his head in his hands, and sighed from the bottom of his toes. Grinder patted him on the back.

"Don't worry, mate." he said, "You couldn't have helped her. Not then, anyway. We'll find her and rescue her."

Alex looked up and smiled grimly. "Yeah. We always do."

He turned, newly confident, to see the trucks barreling along a narrow canyon. Nothing too dangerous about that in itself, but ten minutes later it looked too narrow for this many trucks to come through. Suddenly, the ground opened up below them, and they blew down an underground ramp. The top closed up above them, blanketing them in darkness.

"Heeey, I can't see!" Fidget must have woken up, her voice echoed back to them in the darkness, _'...see!'_. "Is anyone else here? Hel-looooo?"

"We're here, Fidge, hang on!" yelled Alex, and he tried to think of something he could do that would require her hanging-on anymore than she already would have.

* * *

Fidget shook herself awake, and her head began to throb dully. She groaned, rubbed it, and saw...nothing. It was completely dark. She stood, and yelled to see if anyone was there. Alex's voice came back to her, sounding much farther away than she might have hoped. He sounded like he had a plan, and he usually figured something out. She sat down on the same hump she had knocked her head on, and tried to set her chin in her hands. But something poked her hard in the cheek...

Her earpiece! She could talk to Rikki! She turned away from the cab, and cupped her hand around the microphone. She began to talk into it, hoping desperately that Rikki would pick it up.

* * *

In the auto-piloting Big Air, a muffled voice called out, "Rikki? Hello? Are you alright? Hel-looo? Rikki!"

* * *

As Alex tried futily to come up with a plan, he heard a frantic-sounding voice from somewhere off to the right.

"You guys? I think something's wrong in Big Air. Rikki's not answering! No one is!"

Alex thought vaguely that if Rikki hadn't answered, who did she expect to do so? Vinnie?

"Hmm, maybe I don't want to know. She does think an awful lot of that iguana..."

"What's that, A-man?" Grinder turned back to his cage-partner. Alex shook his head.

"Nothing. I'm just thinking, who's responsible for this?"

Grinder shrugged. "Dr. X, who else?"

"I don't know, what would he want now?"

"What does he ever want? He wants to use your AMP factor."

"But he's done with me now, remember? The whole Asazi thing?"

Grinder just shrugged again, and Alex stared at his feet, feeling confused and aggravated. And on top of his own problems, Rikki might be in trouble, and Fidget was going who-knows-where in some other truck.

_Well, this will be interesting._


	2. The Middle

A/N: Hey hey heeeey. Here's the second part! I just got a gr8 idea for the end, so now I just have to tie in the beginning and end. Ugh, I hate when I do that. But _this_ time, I have notes on my inspiration. I came up with it at 10:25 last night, and I'm hoping it still sounds good now that I'm fully awake. Oh, well, I won't bore you with this yakkin' any more, on with the show: 

* * *

The Middle

* * *

As Fidget sat back down, she wondered about the same things as Alex had. Where was Rikki? Where was she going? What was she going to do?

She heaved a sigh. Just as she was getting settled in to be good and gloomy, her truck veered right, and she gave a yelp and fell off the tire hump. She stood quickly and pressed against the back bars.

"Alex?!" she cried out searching the darkness for any movement. Nothing.

A sudden drop, and Fidget was sure she left her stomach behind. And then, it somehow managed to get darker...

* * *

Alex heard a screech of tires, and Fidget yelled. Alex stood and yelled back, but there was no reply. He cried out again and again, but to no avail. Grinder stood up, too.

"It's no use, man. Somethin's happened, and we'll either see her later or not. At any rate, there's still nothin' you can do just now."

Alex sat back down. This was just too stressful. He couldn't do anything, and had no idea where they were.

Suddenly, they was light! Alex and Grinder shielded thier eyes against the sudden brightness. When his eyes recovered, Alex saw a huge cavern, lit with countless flourecent lights. An entire city was built underneath, but a city crafted by madmen. It was nothing but black, and tubes connected buildings. The entire thing radiated power, evil power. Alex gasped, and Grinder's jaw dropped.

A huge hologram flickered into view above the demented city. It was a projection of a hooded head, too deep to see the face within. It spoke over the puffing noise the city made.

"Good day, gentlemen. I see my men have escorted you to my home?"

"Who's this character?" Alex whispered to Grinder, who squinted up at the hologram.

About then, the men hopped out of the trucks, let down the bars, and grabbed Alex and Grinder by the arms.

* * *

Fidget stood still against the bars, trying to see _something_, and feeling dizzy. The truck finally rolled into a dimly lit tunnel, and Fidget watched as the rough walls buzzed past. She bounced painfully against the bars again as the truck pulled to a stop in a small, rock chamber. The driver and second man stepped out, and the bars sucked back into the bed. She hopped down, but they caught her around the middle before she'd taken two steps. She screamed loudly as the other guy hand-cuffed her, and when they attempted to lead her away, she fell on to the ground. The driver grumbled, picked her up, and flung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She yelled and kicked and pounded him, but it didn't matter. She was carried away down a hall.

The hall had lights along the walls, and Fidget thought franticly about escape. Thinking got gradually harder, though, for a lot of blood was rushing to her head right then. Fidget groaned loudly, and shook her head to try and clear it. The only thing it did, though, was to finally shake loose her earpiece. She grabbed franticly for it, but with her hands cuffed, she missed. The man carrying her kept walking, and the piece got farther and farther away.

When the tunnel ended, she turned over and saw a brightly lit room. It was comeplely empty, except for something on the wall, and a hooded figure stood in the center. She peered into his hood, but it was hard to make out a face.

"Excellent." said the figure, and Fidget's stomach knotted up at the voice. It gave her a feeling of deep dread, and she began to shake. The voice laughed, a horrible laugh. "Leave her here. Un-cuff her first."

And a heavy object came in contact with the back of her head. She fell, and knew no more for a long time.

* * *

Alex and Grinder were pushed down the strets of the awful city. The hologram had since disappeared, but the driver and other guy knew where they were headed. Alex did, too. They were headed for the huge, dark building ahead. It was obviously the headquarters. A figure waited in the doorway, also hooded, but looking somehow different than the holo. They stopped at the doorway, and the men backed away. Alex looked from the figure to the men. The figure raised one hand dismisively.

"I'll take it from here, boys." it said. Alex jumped. He _knew_ that voice...

After the men walked away, the figure lowered it's hood.

_Asazi!_

She smiled. "Yeah, that's right." she said reading their shocked faces. Alex spluttered.

"Wha...what's going on?!"

Asazi shrugged. "That, is beyond me. But I'm sure you'll be..._running into_ someone who does know." She smiled again.

"X." Alex glared up at the building in disgust.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Asazi followed his gaze. "Most people haven't even been past the third floor. Some, like me, have been all the way to the twelfth. But then, there's the thirteenth floor." she looked back at Alex's face. "That's where _you're_ going, you lucky devil, you."

Grinder looked at the building, and back at Alex. He opened his mouth to say something, but Asazi kicked him in the shin.

"Shut up. And start walking."

There wasn't much else to do. Hand-cuffed and confused, Alex and Grinder started into the building.


	3. You thought this would be THE END, huh?

Rikki had finally managed to operate Little Air, and was now following the tracks the trucks had left in the sandy dust. He circled the same area for more than the fifth time. He leaned toward the window and peered out.

"I don't get it, Vinnie." he said, looking back at the iguana on his shoulder. "The tracks just stop! They couldn't have been just picked up, could they? I mean, trucks don't just POOF! disappear! Hmm, where have I heard that before..." Rikki realized he was going to have to expand his bank of expressions.

He peeked out again, and shook his head vigorously, his bangs flying around like helicopter blades. "No," he said firmly, "No, because look! Even if they managed to all stop in exactly the same place, it still wouldn't work. Look over here, Vinnie, when I'm talking to you." he pointed out the window, and the lizard, who had been chewing on Rikki's bangs before they were so rudely pulled away, looked in the general direction of his finger. "See? If they had stopped, the back wheel prints would stop before the front ones, right? But these don't! They keep going, then disappear! It's like they just...just _sucked_ into the ground!"

He sighed deeply and leaned back, worn out from brilliant deduction and vibrant speaking. Vinnie waddled about, grunt-hissed something, and looked out the window himself. Whether or not he ever figured out anything that Rikki didn't shall remain a mystery.

Meanwhile, Rikki was having the stereo-typical bright idea. "Hey," he said slowly and over-dramatically, "What if they _were_ sucked into the ground!" He leaned over enthusiastically and said to Vinnie, "Come on, we're going down for a closer look." And he landed Little Air, with surprisingly little difficulty.

* * *

Alex took a wary step into the evil-feeling building. The first room was almost completely empty, but for a few heavily-armed guards, a large piece of machinery of some sort, and about five staircases winding up from different points. Not only that, but the entire thing was painted either forest green or dark, grayish-purple. It was slightly comic-book, but was eerie all the same. Alex turned to see Grinder looking grimly up at it all. He glanced at Alex, then at the piece of machinery.

"See that there," he said, not taking his eyes off the equipment. "You know what that is?"

"No, what?"

Grinder shrugged. "Haven't got the faintest clue." he said. Alex sighed, and wondered if that was his idea of a joke. Asazi looked at the machine dully.

"Yeah," she said unenthusiastically. "You probably _would_ want to know what that is. I would tell ya' if I knew, just to brag, but I don't have a clue, either. Top secret, I guess."

Alex nodded, examining the mystery-machine. "Although, you'd think they'd hide it a little better if it were top secret." he said. But Asazi only shrugged. That is, she only shrugged before kicking them both and telling them sharply to move.

"That staircase in the middle." she barked, and Alex looked at the designated case. _Ugh, it figures,_ he thought dryly. _The only stairs that I didn't want to use..._

Alex had never believed much in being able to feel evil radiating from an object, but he was beginning to change his mind. The stairs in front of him seethed with malice, and it even seemed to be arrogant malice, a sort of, 'Ha-ha, you can't escape and now you've got to walk up the evil stairs!'

Alex shook his head, and told himself firmly that staircases didn't taunt people, and couldn't be arrogant or malicious.

* * *

Vinnie prodded something curiously with his foot, as Rikki paced back and forth over the spot the tire-marks disappeared at. Being down lower, as it turned out, wasn't much help. It still made no sense.

"Hmm, maybe it's got some sort of beam. Like one of those tractor-beam things on Star Trek!" he said brightly. His theories had become more and more, well, _wacked-up_ ever since they had landed. He tried out each new one on Vinnie. For this idea, Vinnie merely grunted and poked something in the dirt with his foot. Rikki sighed, and went back to pacing.

"Well, if it turns out they _were_ abducted, it really just all fits into my theories. I mean, just the other day I was telling Fidget and Grinder about how everything's connected. Missing people, strange lights, gas prices, they're all...! Not now, Vinnie!"

The reptile had hiss-grunted urgently, and buried his nose in the dust. Rikki stomped over impatiently, but his impatience quickly turned to excitement when he saw what Vinnie was messing with.

"Vinnie! Look what I've found!" he cried happily, and Vinnie made what sounded strangely like an exasperated sigh. "It's a door! A trapdoor! The trucks weren't abducted!" his smile faded ever-so-slightly as he realized this, but he went on. "They just went through a trapdoor!"

He laughed excitedly and did a little dance with Vinnie, who hissed and hopped away, looking slightly disgruntled. Rikki then devoted himself to the effort of trying to open the massive door.

* * *

Fidget opened her eyes, and shook her head. It struck her first that it was very dark, and that she was in a very odd position. Then, a hooded figure held something under her nose, laughing softly. It smelled very strange. She drifted off again.

* * *

Grinder walked up the stairs slowly behind Alex. Asazi was behind him, and her high-heels clicked on the concrete staircase. He made a very small comment on how evil geniuses should learn to use elevators or at least escalators, and Alex nodded. Asazi spoke up from the back.

"I suppose they want to make people suffer. That's the way they are. Out of their way to make others uncomfortable. I guess it bothers me."

Grinder snorted. "Since when are you all for the common man?" Asazi grinned.

"That's not what I meant. I'm a hired assassin. I'll go out of my way if the employer does. These things aren't cheap, you know." She pulled out a bomb-tipped arrow for her cross-bow. Grinder wondered if he dared try to grab it, but he remembered the guards below and decided better of it. Instead he only replied

"No, I guess it wouldn't be. Although I dunno how expensive it'd be, and don't care to go looking around for an exact sum."

Asazi put the arrow away again. She looked up and pointed. "Next door on the right brings you to the thirteenth floor. And don't get any ideas, Action-breath." she pointed accusingly at Alex. "There's armed forces up there to escort you." She turned on one needle-width heel, took three steps, and turned back around. "Oh, and one more thing!" she called. "It won't be who you expect!"

With that, she turned once more and descended the stairs, leaving Alex and Grinder to face whatever stood behind the door.


	4. Not yet, just keep your pants on...

A/N: Chapter four's FINALLY up! Wah-hoo! Took me long enough. I was _really_ busy in school, then Spring Break (which I had vowed to be ultimately lazy during), plus lately I've had an unhealthy obsession with ReBoot (another Mainfraim Ent. catroon, for those of you people who aren't blessed with knowledge of it). Really. I dreamed I was Hexadecimal for six consecutive days! I have rocks that I painted with nail-polish named after the characters! I have a glass drop named SCSI! Okay, anyway, read up and ENJOY!! 

Rikki groaned and grunted as he tried to open the trapdoor. Vinnie watched silently, perched on the roof of Little Air. After ten minutes of huffing and puffing, Rikki sat down flat on the sand, panting. Vinnie crawled over and settled on his lap. Rikki looked at him for a moment.

"Well, Vinnie, I tried." he said, and sighed. "I just can't open it. It's too heavy, or maybe it's locked. I don't know. But I _do_ know we have to do _something_, or else we're abandoning them. But what do we do?"

Vinnie was moved by Rikki's speach. Or at least, he moved. He waddled over to where Rikki had been digging before. After sniffing around a bit, he followed the tire tracks away. And away, and away...

Rikki sighed again, and heaved himself up to chase the lizard. Somehow, saving Team Xtreme wouldn't be quiet the same if he'd lost their pet.

Mr. Lettuce-breath was know only a few feet ahead. Rikki took a last step, bent to pick up the reptile, and the ground sank two inches.

Rikki froze. This was probably a stupid thing to do, for as a general rule, ground sinking when one steps on it is not a good thing. However, he quickly recollected his wits, grabbed Vinnie (who was still waddling away slowly), and darted back a few feet. From his new outside viewpoint, he saw that the space he had been standing in had sunk neatly. A square, in fact, about six feet wide had sunk an even two inches. Rikki gulped, and took a cautious step on to the sinking ground. It stayed put. He gave a half-hearted little jump. It dropped a very small bit, and something behind them creaked terribly. Rikki turned and saw the trap door slightly raised. He grinned.

"Vinnie! Look!" he hopped around excitedly. The door rose up little by little. "Come on, Vinnie!" he dropped the lizard on to the platform as well, and this last bit of weight clicked the mechanism. The door opened up, creaking rustily. Rikki laughed a maniac laugh, and grabbed Vinnie by his back-half.

"Let's go, Vin!" he practically skipped to Little Air, flipping Vinnie around almost by the tail (much to the iguana's dismay). He flung the reptile in before climbing in himself, revving the engine, and taking off down the tunnel.

Alex looked at Grinder. He gave him a "Well, nothing for it." look, and turned to the door. It was about then he realized it was going to be hard to open without hands. He turned around backwards, thinking the entire time what a stupid thing it was to do, and managed to work the handle. Immidiately turning, he saw... 

Nothing.

"Well, what d'you know," he said, grinning slightly. "She was trying to fool us!"

Grinder snorted. "Trying? Ha! She sure had _me_ fooled..."

The door closed suddenly behind them, and two large men stepped out from behind an optical-illusionally hidden door. Grinder sighed.

"Aw, and for a minute there I was getting disappointed."

He'd no sooner said this then the original cloaked figure entered from a similar door. His hands were folded together unseen in the long sleeves of the cloak, and he seemed to glide over the floor. It was quite eerie.

"Gentlemen," he said, and looked almost welcomingly at Alex and Grinder. "I am _so_ pleased to see you. I've waited...quite a long time. Such a very long time..." His way of speaking was odd as well, so silkily polite it would make anyone anywhere feel uncomfortable. The figure turned his head from Alex to Grinder, and continued.

"You see, I have developed a device I am _sure_ you'll be interested in." he reached out his right hand, and suddenly a small object was placed in it. He held it up before Alex's eyes. "Before I go into detail, we shall dispose of your friend..." Alex looked sharply at Grinder, who was oggling only slightly. One of the men reached froward to grab him, but Alex swung his cuffed hands around a full 180 degrees, hitting the man in the face rather ineffectively for such a windup. However, it was enough for Grinder to bolt away, back the way they had come. Alex hoped desperately that he would be able to hide or...or _something_! The man grabbed Alex now, and the figure waved one long hand dismisively.

"Let him go. He is not important." He walked forward, Alex restrained now by both men, and slipped the object around Alex's neck. He pushed something, and the device beeped a response. Alex's heart raced a little faster. What was it? A bomb? That would certainly be effective in killing him, although it would kill everyone else as well. What was it? It couldn't be good...

"It's a special collar." explained the figure, as if reading his thoughts. "I designed it to control your AMP factor. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a suitable test subject. So, I've been forced to wait _so_ long to capture the real you..." He smiled under the deep hood, although how one could tell when one couldn't see his face is beyond me.

"What we need you to do," the figure said calmly. "I need you to...oh...increase your adrenaline. And since you generally can't do that yourself, I've arranged a little bit of persuation."

As he spoke, he snapped two fingers on one hand. Doors behind him slid open to reveal...

Fidget was chained to the wall by her arms, her legs chained together and to the wall below to form a 'Y' shape. She was gagged, and a trickle of blood ran down her forehead. She looked at him with frightened eyes, and began to bounce franticly against the wall and screech muffledly through the gag. The wall itself was covered with holes the size of tenis balls.

"Let her go." Alex said in all-but-completely-fake bravery. The figure shook his head.

"No. I think my plan will work _much_ better with her right where she is. If, somehow, you can trigger your AMP factor without help, I will consider her release. However, until then we will take this one step at a time."

Again, the figure snapped. Alex shouted as spines a foot long shot out of the holes in the wall, all but the ones under Fidget. She wailed, terrified, under her gag, and tried to draw herself into a ball. Finding this impossible, she shivered where she hung, her eyes locked on Alex's.

Alex consentrated on his AMP factor, berating himself all the while for being so cursing brave and calm. He didn't _feel_ calm, so why wouldn't the adrenaline flow?!

"Needing any more help, Mr. Mann?" the figure asked in mock-sympathy. "I could help again..."

"NO!" Alex looked up sharply, and glanced back at Fidget, now hyper-ventilating and squinching her eyes shut. Was the little collar preventing his AMP from working? He decided to help it along...

Throwing his weight forward, he ran towards the figure. He hit him full in the stomach, knocking them both down. The figure struggled to his feet, clutching his hood over his face and staggering back a few steps.

"ALRIGHT!" He roared, obviously outraged, and all at once Alex heard

the figure's loud snap

the sharp mettalic *SHRING!* of the spines in the wall

Fidget's blood-curdling scream cut short.

His eyes darted to the wall, and instantly he wished they hadn't. It was too horrible.

He glared up at the robed figure hatefully. This was too. Much. Oh, yes. Killing a teammate? A friend?! Dead?! Oh, yes, dead, but not just poor Fidget...

A searing pain as his AMP factor kicked in, sending the little collar into a frenzy of electricity. It stung, but he took no notice. Straining his arms, he broke the chain on the hand-cuffs. He turned and knocked the two hitmen's heads together. Out cold on the floor. He grappled at the little collar, pulled hard, and...

Choked himself sufficiently. Dang, that thing was on tight! He tackled the figure, knocking him to the ground.

"_Take. It. Off._" He growled. The figure, so much less cocky now that his guards were lying facedown on the floor, wriggled and twisted to get away. But Alex held tight, and glared at him. "I said-"

"I know what you said!" cried the figure, trying desperately to grab the hood now sliding off his head. "If you let me go, then I can disengage the collar and you will be free! I can see that it will do little good. It needs a few adjustments."

The collar still buzzed him with electricity, and it was beginning to bother him. His eyelids twitched spasticly, and he clenched his teeth against the pain. He grudgingly let the figure up, but kept an eye on him as he pushed a hidden button and released the collar.

The buzzing stopped, and Alex hissed out a breath. But his relief was shortlived, the figure grabbed his neck and knocked him to the ground heavily, slamming his head into the ground. Caught offguard, Alex could feel his eyes going dim, his brain already closing down. he could hear a droning in the distance, probably his ears ringing.

But the sound drew closer, closer, until Alex saw a steely-white thing blow by overhead, knocking Mr. Figure back in it's wind. It looped around in a hairpin turn, flew over him once more, and came to a rest behind him. Rikki poked his head out the window, and Vinnie was perched on his head (looking slightly more alert than usual).

"Come _on_!" he shouted, beckoning wildly with one hand. Alex stood, ignoring the pain in his neck where the figure's thumbs had pressed against his windpipe, and shook his head.

"Gotta get something!" he yelled, turning to the room at the end. He ran in and forced himself to look at the spined wall. He grimaced at it, the anger ebbing away for sadness. He _could not_ leave her body there, hanging limply on the wall with her head down. He reached up, grabbed the shackles that held her, and pulled. In his adrenaline-enhanced strength, he broke them easily, and carefully lifted her down. She drooped.

He stumbled to Little Air, and tried to ignore Rikki's confused, then pained, then strickened look as he saw Fidget's body. Alex squatted behind the pilot seat, and said flatly, "Go. Now."

Rikki did as he was told. 

A/N: Okay, one more little chapter that I'm writing right now! Don't be mad! I've been soooo busy! See ya' in a minute, sugah!


	5. THE END! Ta-da!

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Action Man. Mainframe Entertainment, Inc. does. But they don't own this plot. I do. So, if you've got a problem with it, you can take it up with me. And, as I really don't give a null's rear-end _what_ you think, you might as well complain to a deaf brick wall with an ear infection.   
**A/N:** Okay, peeps. This is the fifth and final chapter of my story. This is the good part I came up with right after I posted chapter one, so none of your reviews wavered me from my plan! It took really reeeeally long because the more I thought about it, the better it got! However, it seems to have reached maximum interest now, so I guess I might as well right. I mean write. Oops. Okay, enough with the yackin', now let's get to snackin'! No, wait, that has nothing to do with reading a fic. Hmm, darn... 

*Movin' on*

Rikki docked Little Air in it's mother ship with absolutely no conversation. He popped the hatch, climbed out, took two steps and collapsed in a heap on the floor. Alex stepped out as well, and turned back to retrieve Fidget's body. He walked in to the "living area" of Big Air and set her on the table. Grinder turned around in the piloting seat, his expression completely changing as he saw poor Fidget. He glanced up at Alex with a horrified and questioning look in his eyes, but the former had already turned back to where Rikki lie crumpled.

He squatted down next to the shuddering lump that was his manager and laid a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. Rikki turned back to face him.

"Alex," he whispered, climbing to his feet unsteadily. "What...what happened?"

Alex swallowed hard. "The man, the hooded man you saw, he...he had some sort of torture wall. With spines. Fidget...she was chained to it. When he snapped his fingers, it triggered something in the wall, and...and..."

Here, he was forced to stop. The point was made, and nobody felt like talking it over at the moment. Grinder was standing in the doorway, and for a moment nobody moved except to bow their heads.

Finally, Grinder spoke. "I guess we ought to do something. She can't just lie there." He gestured towards the other room, in which was the table with her body.

"Yeah. I guess so." Alex answered at length, beginning to trudge out. The others followed him slowly, and all ended up around the table, staring at the edge instead of Fidget herself.

Alex felt angry. That robed man had killed her off, and for what? To test some worthless collar?! Completely worthless in that it didn't even accomplish it's assigned task?! He began to shake uncontrollably, his vision started to pop with little yellow and blue fragments...

Wait. Yellow and blue fragments? Alex jumped at the sight of algebraic figures swirling through the room around him. His AMP factor? Why was it starting up now? A delayed reaction, maybe?

As he watched, the figures swirled around Rikki and Grinder, who weren't frozen in mid-motion, as things usually were when golden equations started to calculate, but moving quite at normal speed. The ribbon of algebra flitted back to the table, and that's when the really odd things began...

Alex watched the ribbon creep underneath Fidget's still form, slowly at first, then faster and faster, spinning her and itself until she was coccooned in flying, gilded numbers. It lifted off the table, spiralling wildly, and turned her vertical in midair. For a solid three seconds it spun there, glowing brighter and brighter until there was a blinding flash, and Alex fell back, stunned for a moment by the light. The AMP ribbon zipped away, now swirling in a circle about ten feet wide. It spun round a sort of axel, an axel which certainly appeared to be a fully-repaired Fidget Wilson, still dangling some five feet above the ground. She shook her head, opened her eyes, looked around for a split second, then gave a little gasp and began to wave her arms in wild circles. The golden equations disappeared, leaving the entire room in stunned silence.

*BASH!*

"OOOOW!"

Silence, at least until Fidget finally fell with a loud crash to the tabletop and confirmed the discomfort in doing so. Her screech broke the spell, and everyone began, instead, to stutter and babble aimlessly.

"Hey, yuh...wah, ooo?"

"Uh? Ah...ah...whah!"

"Buh-buh-buh...eh..."

The reincarnated Fidget looked herself over approvingly, completely ignoring the other team members' blubbering. "Not bad. Especially considering I was _dead_..." She looked into their shocked and puzzled faces. "Stop gaping, already. I'm alive, aren't I? Or aren't I..." She narrowed her eyes and they darted accusingly at each member. "Am I dead?" she demanded suspiciously. Rikki, at least, found the decency to shake his head.

"Uh...no! At least, I hope you're not, 'cause you're moving and all..."

Fidget hopped off the table, toppling a chair in the process. "Oops..." she caught it halfway down and set it back up, then turned to grin sheepishly at the other members. "Gotta go to the bathroom now. Be right back!" she proclaimed, and hurried off to the back. Alex grinned a little, something he hadn't expected to be doing for a while.

"At least we know she's not dead, Rik. Her spirit would never be as clumsy as the real thing."

"I'M _NOT CLUMSY_!" she called out from down the hall. The entire group in the "living area" smiled. It was nice to be back to normal, and back together.

Later that week, after everyone felt a little more comfortable talking about the bad incident in the underground city, Alex found himself seated comfortably across the wing of Big Air. They had landed for a show, but it was over with, and he had suddenly found himself with a little bit of precious free time. He had been sitting quietly for a good ten minutes, thinking about everything that had happened (but mostly about Fidget's death and reincarnation) when he heard a door shut. Moments later, the camerawoman herself had managed somehow to climb onto the wing (although we may never know how, her being 4'11) and seat herself by Alex with a sigh.

"Hey." she said, nudging him with her shoulder. When he made no particular effort to answer, she swatted him jokingly with the back of her hand. "Earth to Alex, come in Alex." He sighed, and looked over at her. She was staring right back at him expectantly. "Well? Watcha thinkin' about?"

He smirked. "You, actually."

She bowed her head slightly. "Flattered. Why?"

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "What did it feel like? To be dead? I know that's a cliche question, but I really do want to know."

Fidget pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Not really like anything, I guess. Like being asleep, without dreams. Just nothing at all. I was _dead_, after all."

"Okay, then. What did it feel like to be brought back?"

She thought again. "Weird. I sort of woke up, but couldn't really..._feel_ anything. Numb, you know? Then, this is sort of funny, I guess, it itched, or tickled or something, around all those...those holes..." she drew a shuddering breath, rearranged herself on the wing, and looked Alex in the eyes. "It was weird. I think...I know this sounds dumb, but...I think I know what it feels like when you AMP up. I could even see those orangy-yellow numbers, although I haven't got the slightest idea what they meant. I never was that great at math." she laughed a little, then cocked an eyebrow at Alex. "I suppose _you_ were?"

It was Alex's turn to laugh. "You'd think so, wouldn't you? But no, not really. Remember, this is a subconcious thing, I only discovered it since I started with you guys. And it wasn't even there until highschool, so it didn't do a lot of good in the grades."

"Eh. That sucks."

"Just like gravity?"

Fidget looked puzzled for a moment, then glanced down at her shirt and laughed out loud. Alex smiled, happy to have her back and alive. But the smile faded as his thoughts turned to the underground city, and the figure...

"We couldn't have killed him off when we hit him like that."

Fidget glanced up, jerked from her own thoughts. "Hmm?"

"Oh, I forgot. You were actually dead at the time-"

"That _can_ cloud your memory." she cut in.

"-but the figure got hit by Little Air when Rikki came and saved us. Me, you were already lost...but anyway. He was probably just knocked out. And that whole city, did you see it?"

She frowned and looked at her drawn-up feet. "I didn't see much anything, they carried me off down some tunnel and-" She jumped and clutched her right ear. "My headset! Oh, man! Rikki's gonna _kill_ me!"

Alex patted her shoulder. "I'm sure he'll forgive you, just this once, given the circumstances."

She still frowned. "Speaking of missing items, I haven't seen that iguana since I was last alive..." She hopped off the wing and out of site, and Alex heard scuffles and crunches of dirt and a non-feeling "Ow." He smiled a little as the door closed again.

Moments later, he heard a crash and "RIKKIIIIIIIII!"

A/N: Okay, okay, how was it???? It was fun to write, especially the reincarnation part! Mmmm, okay, time to start my next one, while I'm high on peanut butter M&M's. I think it'll be a ReBoot one. I've got it outlined already, about Mouse having a baby named Kei (pronounced 'Key') and stuff. Yeah. Uh-huh. I need some more bubbly water now. I like that stuff. It's like, mineral water or something. Hey! One o' my friends is here! Name's Ezra, check her out some time. Peace out, Fidget. And remember: "Put a smile on your face! Make the world a better place! Put a smile on your face! _Watcha gonna do, say watcha gonna do_..."


End file.
